Iraq condemns Turkish strikes on PKK as “assault on sovereignty”

Until about 10 days ago, the talk around Turkey was whether a coalition government should be formed before early August. The conflict with the PKK has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.

Turkish officials said they were investigating the charges of shelling inside Syria while denying that YPG forces were a target.

The Suruc bombing could affect negotiations on forming a coalition.

The timing of Ankara’s about-face on ISIS engagement, however, has raised questions over whether defeating the extremists was merely a pretext to advance Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s political agenda. The attack led the government to launch a campaign against hundreds of suspected militants. “Turkey is planning to stop YPG/PKK expansion in Syria by creating a safe haven and supporting rebel groups in the Aleppo countryside, and bombing the PKK in Qandil mountains is a warning to the PKK“, Jamestown Foundation analyst Wladimir van Wilgenburg said on Wednesday.

The chief prosecutor’s office in the mostly Kurdish province of Diyarbakir opened an investigation into Demirtas on Thursday over accusations he “provoked and armed” protesters during demonstrations in the southeast last year, local media said.

He also said it would be impossible to continue peace efforts with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) amid continuing attacks inside Turkey.

“We all stand united in condemning terrorism, in solidarity with Turkey”, Stoltenberg told a news conference. Under Turkey’s electoral laws, if the HDP does not pass a 10 percent election threshold almost all of its seats will go the AKP.

A Hercules C-130 military aircraft maneuvres on the runway at Incirlik Air Base, near Adana in south …

Despite the government aggression against the PKK in the name of national security, Turkish citizens consider the IS group to be a bigger threat to the country and believe northern Syria should be in the hands of Syria’s Democratic Union Party (PYD) – an offshoot of the PKK. The general assumption is that this vicious attack was carried out against the Kurds by ISIS in retaliation for their losses in Syria.

“The peace process has been continuously used and abused by some sides”, he said.

NTV television said that overnight eight Turkish F-16s had been seen taking off from their base in Diyarbakir on possible new raids in northern Iraq.

Turkey last week launched air strikes on PKK camps in northern Iraq following a series of attacks on its police officers and soldiers blamed on the Kurdish militant group. The YPG now controls large parts of the Syrian border with Turkey. Parliamentary elections in June failed to give any party a majority. Potential coordination between the US and Turkey will, therefore, more than likely be supported by the Gulf States and viewed as a shift back in their favour.

Ford, now at the Middle East Institute, said Washington will not work with Nusra Front. He noted that “it’s always in Erdogan’s interest to draw out the government formation process”.

The welcome new cooperation could deal a powerful blow to the Islamic State if it succeeds in curtailing the group’s access to the border and its smuggling routes for fighters and supplies.

Erdogan’s stance presents a complication for the United States and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies. The official also noted that the U.S. lists the PKK as a terrorist organization. An agreement was reached between the U.S. and Turkey to establish a safe zone in Syria along the Turkish border.

Besir Atalay, spokesman for the ruling AK Party, said it was too soon to declare the peace process over and said it could resume if “terrorist elements” put down arms and left Turkey.

But Sinan Ciddi is warning that the two air campaigns could hurt President Erdogan.

“The member states are fully aware that the Turkish priority is an attack on the Kurds – to be more specific, the prevention of a contiguous Kurdish entity in northern Syria”, Seckin told AFP.